When SFPD meets LEP
by Writin'Redhead
Summary: Captain Catherine 'Cate' Donpino, the head of the SFPD major crimes department, stumbles across some rather weird suspects and is taken to the Lowers Elements by Officer Holly Short. Within hours Cate finds herself centered to probably the most adventurous but also dangerous mission of her life. Including new friends and perhaps even romance... HIATUS (It stops at a cliffhanger...)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Artemis Fowl characters, they belong fully to Eoin Colfer.**

** And don't be confused, I made Artemis an elf for this. He's probably clever enough to manage that ;)**

**Please excuse mistakes if found as I am not a native speaker. Though please review, I'd be grateful for improvement advice :)**

* * *

Chapter (1)

LEP shuttle

Cate woke up with a dizzy feeling that turned fast into a horrible headache, when she tried (and failed) standing up. She found herself on what seemed to be some kind of fabric covered seats. The air was dry and no sun but only artificial light shone from the ceiling.

Taking a close look at her surrounding, Cate Donpino sat up slowly. It looked like you would imagine a NASA space craft being mixed with an old greyhound bus. High-tech displays glowed softly, highlighting weird letters (if they even were) Cate could not understand. The seat she was sitting in looked just like any old bus seat, even including the gum stuck under it.

Though there were windows (maybe even portholes), they showed nothing than darkness outside.

But what disturbed her most was that, wherever she was, she was moving. And fast.

Her yearlong police training held Cate from completely freaking out but trying to analyze the situation she was in.

Waking up to strange surroundings with no memory of any pervious events - this required the full checklist: No white beds and none other medical equipment, probably not a hospital.

Next, the square root of 64? Eight, so ... probably not drugged.

Held captive without any restraining, so (hopefully) no psycho trying to kill her. Still, nothing seemed familiar in any way and the doors in front and back were sealed tight, maybe kidnapped? Someone blackmailing the SFPD?

Still how hard she tried to remember, Cate could not recall the slightest bit of what went down within the last few hours. The only thing she remembered was she had gone down to the holding cells with the intention to question someone about something. But she had no clue what or who it could've been.

While the captain was trying to determine the graveness of her situation, the formerly locked doors slid open with a quiet hiss.

Cate heard footsteps and turned around, regretting this only a fraction of a second later.

In the door frame stud a man. If it even was a man...

He ... it ... was smaller than her, a lot smaller.

Cate wasn't exactly tall herself. With merely one meter sixty she had been lucky to be accepted in the police academy, but her natural instincts and highly trained tactical skills made up for this, big time.

But right in this moment, none of it was of any use to her.

The man, creature, whatever it was, smirked, gleaming white teeth showing from parted dark green lips. The rest of him was also green...

But even that was not what put her most off. Cate could have sworn, that she'd seen something behind the man's back covered in a military looking overall. A something that looked alarmingly like ... like neatly folded wings...

So all together, there stood a very small, green skinned, winged man ... and grinned at her. This could only be a dream. A very strange one.

Cate Donpino wished she's wake up. Now please!

Maybe she was drugged after all? Was that the best her subconscious could come up with?! A weird sci-fi leprechaun. Somehow this was worrying. Cate decided it was probably best for her if she stopped watching late night movies on 'mystery channel'.

The man (she decided he probably was a man, even if not human) opened his mouth to speak.

"Hey there honey. Welcome aboard the famous LEP taxi service" he sniggered. If they had been in any other situation, the man would have regretted even thinking about calling the captain a 'honey'.

But right now, Cate wasn't even able to decide on whether she was awake or not, let alone register cheeky comments from little green men.

"Not slept well I guess. Holl- , I mean the Captain'd hit you pretty good. Those new neutrinos give you one an 'ell of an 'eadache."

"Who ... what ... are..." Cate spluttered. It was a rare occasion that the witty Captain of the San Francisco Police's Major Crimes Unit, short MCU, was lost for words. After all she had a whole special force under her command and was used to extraordinary situations. But she wasn't sure if this 'x-files'-ish incident counted as extraordinary if not even as completely insane.

Her stammering was interrupted as the doors slid open once again.

Another small but this time female figure came through, already yelling at the green man in front of her.

"Chix, you utter idiot! I'd told you to wait in the cockpit. Go!"

Chix seemed not too happy about being told off by his assumable superior. He retreated, but not without winking at Cate once before he left.

"Now!" the other person scowled, a small, child sized yet adult looking woman with short auburn hair and oddly mismatched eyes. One warm, hazel brown, the other colored in piercing ice blue. She also wore the same kind of uniform like Chix, though it had a few more shimmering golden badges attached to it.

The woman turned towards the, now entirely confused, human police officer.

"Hello", she said, walking slowly towards Cate, who walked slowly backwards, nevertheless steadying herself and preparing for self-defense.

"Please excuse him, this was meant to go down a little bit different. So I guess it's a bit of a shock for you, but I'll explain.

My name 's Captain Holly Short. I am from the LEP, the Lower Elements Police and I am a fairy. Well, an elf to be specific. And ... „ she pointed to her badges "... also a LEPrecon, but that's just my job." The elfin captain smiled warmly.

"I assume you got some questions now, Captain Donpino."

And so she did. Starting by where she was and how on earth the fairy creature knew her name, for god's sake?!

It took more than an hour to explain everything to Cate.

And another half to actually believe it.

High-tech fairies, living in an underground society, criminal fairy smugglers in California, those weird suspects she has arrested being ... _goblin_s or something like that.

All of this sounded so incredibly insane, Cate was thinking of a really, really clever prank from her co-workers in one last attempt to find a reasonable explanation.

To be fair, the detectives Matt Carnelian and Nick Frye, did once pull of a similar prank, ... but the price they had to pay had been way too high for them ever attempting anything alike again.

And now these people somehow ... needed her ... her help?

The suspects, ... those really, small kind of smelly dwarfs, actually _were_ dwarfs. Real and actual dwarfs...

A big part of her still refused to belief all of this. But somehow, in a small part in the back of her head, a tiny voice said, that it actually made sense. Somehow.

And finally Cate believed it.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2)

The Lower Elements,

Haven, Police Plaza,

Operations booth

"She did WHAT?!"

Commander Trouble Kelp's voice echoed back with a mighty boom from the other end of the small, stuffed with technical (close to magical) devices, ops booth. Unable to believe what he'd just heard.

"Say that again", his eyes dared Foaly, the LEP's technical genius, to even think of what he just said. Trouble simply did not want to believe what he'd just heard.

Foaly, on the contrary, wasn't the slightest bit impressed. He had served a few centuries under Commander Julius 'Beetroot' Root - and how hard Kelp tried, he was no match for his predecessor.

"I said, nice and slow, so even _you_ can understand," he glared at the Commander, "that Holly is bringing the human down here ..."

"I got that part", Trouble interrupted the annoying centaur. "What I don't get, is: _Why_. _The HELL_. She is doing _THAT_? As if we don't have already enough problems without some mud woman sticking her nose in our business."

"Well, as I was about to explain, if you had let me finish", another glare "...that 'mud woman' is part of one if the best human police task forces" - "Even worse !" - "She already arrested three of our smugglers - didn't know they were two goblins and a dwarf - but nevertheless, she did manage to catch AND contain them" He paused as if to stifle a snigger, "Holly arrived just in time to seize the woman before she came back to her senses. So our brave little captain gave her some tranquilizer to prevent her from completely freaking out."

Trouble's face was devoid of any emotion, but a small twitch in his right eyebrow... as if to wait for the right moment to explode again. But now he merely watched as the tech genius explained.

"Holly meant, now that she already knows of the People, she might as well help us with our situation. And in my opinion another surface contact, besides the Fowls, could be worth pure gold." Foaly couldn't stress this last perk enough.

Swiftly weighing up the options in his head, Trouble gave a slow, though reluctant, shrug of his head.

"Alright", he managed to spit out. "But tell her to get directly to the Plaza, I need to speak to her. In private."

"Will do commander, will do ... weeehhlll" he stretched the last syllable to twice its length, " ... to be honest, they're already here ... " The centaur wasn't exactly worried about being the bearer of bad news, more concerned about the now uncomfortable looking, frequent twitching in the commander's ears.

Trying to gather enough breath for one last objection, Trouble inhaled loudly, but thought better of in the last moment.

Instead he gave in, sighted and said "Then send them both up in my office, but..." A stern look on his face, "Holly is not of the hook yet."

He was sure, that one day this woman would be his end.

In some way he was right ... but said woman wasn't Holly.

* * *

The Lower Elements,

Haven - shuttle port,

_Half an hour ago_

Captain Holly Short's day had been quite stressful up until now - even for the experienced LEPrecon officer. The discovery of a smuggler ring, that was a formation of dwarves, goblins and much to the LEPs surprise also includeing human crooks, isn't an every day occurence.

Having to remove an entire bachelor party from a shuttle (those gnomes, that still were sober, _really_ didn't appreciate it), just so that she and her support, who unfortunately was Chix Verbil, being the only available officer on short notice in proximity to E51, could get up to San Francisco. Foaly had considered himself really funny when he numbered it, hinting to the mud people's military base nearby the chute in North America. (LEP always struggled with security on E51 but fortunately conspiracy theorists took care of all fairy sightings).

All just in time to prevent an utterly confused mud woman from realizing, the three suspects she'd arrested were far from being human.

On top of that Artemis, finally moving to Haven, had kicked her out of his apartment this morning, (Yes, they've had finally gotten together, though bets changed in recent last years from predicting the first real date to guessing the moment of _The Big Question_. The People were always up for a good bet.) for having exchanged his black velvet curtains with very colorful, flowery ones.

And now she had spent the last hours explaining the fairy world to an, at first disbelieving, then nearly hysterical and finally accepting human police officer. The women, a rather small (despite fairy standards), slender black haired beauty was also a captain in a mostly male force, what made her in Holly's eyes immediately sympathetic, being also the first female recon officer.

After the first shock (for which Chix wasn't exactly innocent) had passed, Captain Donpino agreed to help her new LEP colleagues and was also willing to function as another surface connection to the People. If there were any problems Foaly could still mind-wipe her.

Holly had liked her right from the start. The human captain reminded her lot of herself. They shared quite a lot of characteristics. Intelligent but as obstinate as a mule, born leaders who didn't hesitate to do what needed to be done in order to protect their people, and both might be small but not to be underestimated. only if you were really, _really_ dumb...

Cate - they were quickly on a first-name-basis within the four and a half hour journey - also was a combat expert with some martial arts tricks that even Juliet would've died to know. When the conversation moved to demonstrations, Chix who had popped back into the passengers part of the shuttle after Holly's daring glares had been forgotten (obviously trying to check on his chances hitting on the pretty new female captain - sprites!), quickly assessed the situation, and decided that his chances to get out of the shuttle unharmed were _a lot_ better if he quietly retreated to the cockpit...

But now they had arrived at Haven shuttle port.

After an abrupt halt the doors slid open with a soft pneumatic hiss and cleared the view into the arrival hall. The hall resembled a human train station in many ways. Besides the docking stations the small clearances were crowded with fairies, only kept in check by a few members of the LEPtraffic.

Holly swiftly waved at her colleagues as she directed Captain Donpino and Lieutenant Verbil out. But they were too busy to wave back as they had to deal with a commotion of sprites, goblins, gnomes and pixies that were highly irritated by the delay of their shuttle causing their long anticipated holiday to be cut short a few hours because some wayward troll roamed the chute. In some ways the People were just like the humans.

Cate couldn't even describe the feeling. To be honest, if one stepped out of a shuttle in which one was practically kidnapped hours before and now entered a whole new world, full of supposed-to-be-fairytales, quite few people knew how to feel.

Quickly her experience gained control over the amazement and she surveyed the arrival hall with skilled looks.

There were three exits to the tall, glass-domed hall, each marked with an electronic sign displaying "Haven City Center", "Customs" and "Metro". They trio took the first one, Chix hovering a few centimeters above the ground, behind the two height differed captains.

"Police Plaza isn't far" Captain Short informed Cate. "So we'll just walk, it's only a few minutes. Don't worry, Captain," she grinned at the last word "The People are tolerant, no one will bother you and eventually you'll get used to the looks."

Cate caused quite some heads to turn with her height and human uniform (needless to say that she still was also an attractive woman), but she had no intention of staying underground for so long that she got used to the wondering looks of the fairy folk.

"You sound like your speaking out of experience, Captain."

"Oh, yes, I've … got a human boyfriend" Captain Short's smile looked as if she herself wasn't too sure at the moment, if to be happy about this or not. "Well, sort of. He's an elf now anyways. "

"Do I even want to know why?" Cate wasn't too sure she did.

"Probably not, but I'd bet someone's gonna tell you the whole story sooner or later."

Whilst speaking these last words, they arrived in front of a rather large four story building which carried the same acorn shaped symbol like the fairy uniforms.

When the unusual looking trio of elf, human and sprite entered, a curly, strawberry blond tuft of hair darted at them.

"Oh. My. Gods. Holly... you are in _so_ much trouble. Kelp just spent the last twenty minutes yelling at Foaly about what you did."

It was Lili Frond, last descendant of the great elfin king Frond, sort of friend to Holly and Trouble and the official pretty-face of the LEP.

"What _I_ did? ", unbelievable. Holly was outraged. "I did what was right! He should th-"

"Save your breath for the Commander, he sure is not happy", Lili interrupted her friend. "You're to go straight to his office. And bring the mud girl along", she added, waving a swift hand at Cate who just stood and watched, taking in the full expand of everything happening. Then the blonde was off again to where ever she had come from.

Mentally bracing herself for the expected argument, Holly sighted.

"D'arvit, oh all right. Chix", she directly addressed the sprite to her left. "Get back to work, I'm sure you've got a lot to do." Chix saluted quickly as he went (surprisingly without any protest), but Holly had already turned to the human on her other side and smirked mischievously.

"And you come with me. We've got to convince someone what a great gain you are to the People."


	3. Chapter 3

3) Story "SFPD to LEP"

The Lower Elements,

Police Plaza, Commander Kelp's office

Trouble already knew that trying to reason with his subordinate (and winning) would be a thing next to the impossible.

Now he had to deal with Holly's stubbornness adding to the fact of three fairies in human police custody. Another bunch of them running around on the surface, trading happily with the mud men. Smuggling harmless items like videogames was an as big problem as downright dangerous things like weaponry to the Lower Elements because every exchanged good increased chances of exposure of the fairy society to the human world. And this lot seemed to do both.

To be honest, Holly had handled the incident quite well. In lack of a retrieval team, she mesmerized the guarding human officers into transferring the delinquent fairies to a small solitary cell out of sight from the other prisoners and also suggesting them, that they had never seen anything weird that day, because (thanks to the Mesmer) the solitary cell was absolutely empty and there was no use for anyone to go down there for the next 48 hours, leaving the LEP enough time to send someone back and clear up said mess.

The only problematic variable had been that police officer; Holly had dragged down with Chix and her.

The woman had spotted Holly when she had been putting the Mesmer on her colleagues, giving the officer enough time to mentally brace herself. Through that, her mind had, surprisingly, been strong enough to fight it off the expected effects of absolute obedience.

What had put Holly in a difficult situation, it lead to her decision to tranquilize the woman and take her with them as she surely was able to help them solve their crisis if all was explained to her?

Despite that Trouble might think Captain Short had acted with the right intentions, he did _not_ agree that Holly had brought down that mud girl whatsoever causes she had.

You know the saying, once burned... and the Artemis Fowl incidents in the last two decades had been more than enough reason for him to reject every kind of human help. Fowl had been an elf for the last eight years now and stated less of a threat to the People (if you ignored the infinite resource if fairy technology he now had access to...), but still, him and Fowl were never to become anything besides reluctant coworkers.

And the fact that Artemis finally managed to get on Holly's good side also didn't improve their relationship.

He snapped out of these thoughts as his office door was practically kicked down by Holly, who didn't even bother to knock.

'Here it comes', the Commander thought. 'Bring it on.'

"What is your problem? " Holly immediately snapped at him, still standing under the doorframe and conveniently ignoring the fact that Kelp was still her superior. "This crisis isn't only the concern of the People, imagine the problems on the surface if their criminals start running around with Foaly's new Neutrino."

Trouble merely waited, sometime even Holly had to pause for breath.

But not yet.

"We've taken Captain Donpino with us because she's highly experienced and not too shocked about the fairies.

You know well enough tha-"

*Bleeeeeeep*

The pestering (momentarily highly welcome) beeping of the intercom saved Trouble from reminding her of his position (which probably would have led to an unpleasant argument - not to mention that Holly had Artemis on her side) by cutting off Holly's rage triad to let him answer the call.

From the other side of the line the dead serious but nevertheless very loud voice of Raine Vinyáya rang in his pointed ear. In fact, even outside the office, Cate could hear the words loud and clear. Vinyáya had probably used up all of her politeness with the council.

The Wing Commander barely managed to get words "Commander Kelp, get your people and come down to the conference room. This second! ", out before she slammed the end button with what, by the sound of it, seemed to be a tightly clenched fist.

Trouble took his chance and seized the word.

"Well, I guess you also heard her, so, let's move." He shook his head in direction of the office door, where Holly's angry appearance still blocked the view to the corridor.

Grudgingly she stepped aside and cleared the view for a sight that hit him in such way, it yanked every last bit of breath out of his tensed body.

To fully understand Trouble's reaction, you need to know a bit more about fairies.

The life expectancy of the fairy folk reaches easily up to a thousand years, if not even more. So the decision to spend your life with someone means that you'd eventuality have to put up with said person for _quite_ some time.

Evolution had made the mistake to try and assist the search, especially with the emotional elves.

It had built a little backdoor to their minds where all incoming information was processed in order to search for the perfect match on a potential lifelong mate.

If it found one, that little backdoor suddenly became the main entrance...

Needless to say these bodily measures mostly resulted in complete and utter chaos.

But back to police plaza.

In the doorway stood the very real impression of Trouble Kelp's dreams come true. Trouble knew (encouraged by his subconscious desire to find the perfect mate) within less than a heartbeat he'd gladly spend the rest of his centuries with her.

The way she emitted the gift of natural leadership and fortitude combined with an overall grace that surrounded her like a halo ...

His primal instincts urged him to get down on his knees and profess eternal love to the human woman Captain Short had brought underground only hours ago and he'd just seen for the very first time.

That's evolution for you.

But right now he needed to focus.

He, Trouble Kelp, was a commander, the head of the Lower Elements Police. If any fairy couldn't afford to lose its wits, it was him.

'So focus, Trouble. Calm down and focus'

And he did. Deep green eyes, surrounded by shimmering, silky black hair... it seemed to draw him in.

'Gods..., not on her!' He shook his head, ears nearly flapping like a dog's, in a desperate attempt to regain control over his mind (and especially feet, already taking a small step towards the female).

"Is everything okay?" Holly cocked her head and looked at the superior officer, a questioning expression on her face. Commander Kelp now had gripped the end of his reddish ponytail as if it was the only thing anchoring him to this dimension.

"Yes, ... yes, everything is alright. Off, we go", and he squeezed past Captain Short, trying to avoid any eye contact with the pretty human captain and disappeared in direction of the conference room.

Holly only sent Cate an irritated look and gestured her to follow the confused commander.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter (4)

Haven,

Police Plaza,

Conference room

In the conference room, most of the LEP's senior personnel was already seated around a big, round table with an interactive tabletop, undoubtedly a creation of the centaur Foaly's ingenious mind.

Wing Commander Raine Vinyáya already was in mid-conversation with the commander of the Atlantis branch of the Lower Elements Police. The atlantian sprite puffed his turquoise cheeks and flapped his wings, unmistakably displeased by whatever Vinyáya just'd declared.

She looked up from their intense discussion, long silver hair flowing around her shoulders, when Commander Kelp entered. Soon to be followed by recon's Captain Holly Short and an unfamiliar human... probably that surface police officer who'd offered her help.

As councilwoman and head of section eight you'd expect to be informed about these sorts of events but...

She watched them taking places across the table and enjoyed the astonished expression on the mud woman's face for a few seconds, when she realized that her vis-à-vis didn't have legs but equine limbs ending in shiny (probably polished) black hooves.

"Wing Commander, don't you listen?" The unnerved sprite snapped Vinyáya out of her wondering. "_I said_ whatever shortages you might have, this crisis is upon Haven. We don't have enough men in the force to convey half of them to the capital. There's just enough officers to maintain security standards during tourism season. It'd leave Atlantis vulnerable to any kind of threat."

Commander Acorus liked to remain a flowery speech," We'd be sitting on a plate like a stink worm in front of a ravenous tunnel dwarf!"

Vinyáya was annoyed at him, what had she expected? Acorus was well known to have a prim play-it-safe attitude. In many ways he resembled Kelp's permanently whining kid brother. Surprising how he'd ever managed to become a commander. Maybe there was even hope for Grub.

Though Vinyáya seriously doubted it.

She waved a hand at the commander, cutting him off and looked about once more. It seemed as everyone had arrived for the situations briefing. Besides her three other councilmembers were present (the elf Lope, pixie Viridis and overweight gnome Nisum indulged in their favorite activity - bickering), Acorus's escort: two LEP majors (seeming infinitely annoyed by having to sit in the briefing rather than actually arresting someone), obviously Foaly, for him being the technical brains of the LEP, Artemis Fowl and Captain Short (the latter irked over Fowl who'd just arrived seconds ago, as if not to be bothered attending the meeting on time) and Commander Kelp (who straightened his uniform in frequent intervals and somehow couldn't keep his eyes of the mud woman).

Vinyáya stood up, slapping her palms onto the table twice, in order to get everyone's attention. Foaly winced at the rough treatment of his precious 'i-table' (as much as he liked pointing out their technical retardedness, he did like to nick their product names). It's time to start.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter (5)

Still the conference room…

Cate Donpino quickly got accustomed to all the fairies around her. The only thing that put her off was Commander what's-his-name, who kept on glancing at her...

After the initial irritation of being seated next to a centaur, the half-horse man proved to be rather nice company. He chatted excitedly about several new inventions he made (gadgets that probably could crumble power balances on the surface with a wave of the centaur's nibbled off carrot), Cate wasn't sure if she'd even gotten half of it and the fairy translator in her ear wasn't the culprit. She made a mental note to introduce him to Benny Fredrickson, their SFPD techie - those both were made for each other.

But now a, by the looks of it, middle aged, elf stood up to get their attention.

"That's Wing Commander Vinyáya," Holly'd leaned over and whispered to Cate. "She was my flight instructor back at the academy. She's been on the force for more than half a millennia. Wouldn't want to mess with her, great woman."

"Welcome everyone, thank you for making it on such short notice. As you've all been informed, the LEP managed to uncover a ring of smugglers only this morning. Now what makes this an incident out of the ordinary is that we have a criminal organization at our hands that uses equally fairies as also humans for their operations."

The Wing Commander paused. She did not like what she had to say.

"We don't know who's pulling the strings nor how wide the network is outspread. But what we do know is that it must end. The mud people already took three fairies into custody and the gods know how many others of these idiots managed expose our existence." The determined look in her eyes made Cate think, these particular fairies would do well _not_ being arrested by Vinyáya personally. Even a pit bull seemed more understanding than the silver haired elf.

"Fortunately for the Lower Elements it was a special unit of the San Francisco Police, who made the arrests and agreed to offer their help. Officer - ?"

"Captain Catharine Donpino, at your service", Cate raised her hand to her forehead in a salute. Vinyáya outranked her after all. "But please, do call me Cate", she smiled.

* * *

Trouble's ears perked up.

'So she's called 'Cate' then', he memorized. How sweet her voice sounded in his evolutionary driven mind...

* * *

"So be it", Vinyáya continued. "She's acting as our surface contact and Foaly is currently working on setting up a connection to the rest of the SFPD task force." she looked at the centaur. He typed rapidly on the tabletop in front of him.

"At least I hope so!"

"Jup, nearly made it", he looked at Cate. "Congrats to your tech staff though, none other system took me this long. As much as it hurts to admit it."

Cate listened concentrated as the Wing Commander concluded:

"We must join forces with the humans and prepare for a surface raid in order t-"

Another fairy at the tabled raised its hand and almost at the same time his voice, to interject Vinyáya's situational analysis. Quite brave interrupting the Wing Commander like that...

It was Holly's superior officer.

The athletic built elf let his gaze sweep quickly across the faces in the conference room before speaking, but resting it a few seconds too long on the black haired human captain until she cleared her throat and looked demonstratively onto the i-table.

"Thank you, Wing Commander. But how _exactly_ would you recommend we should take action? I can't just send up a retrieval squad, hoping everything's gonna be fine.

Captain Donpino, would you do the honors of leading a team? After all it was you who'd arrested them." He actually winked at her!

"Here's what I'd suggest we do ..."

* * *

Commander Kelp had long forgotten his aversions against human help - it meant he could work closer to the pretty captain...

* * *

'What is going on with that elf?' Cate thought.

Captain Short was friends with him, though she'd also mentioned that he had a reputation of being some sort of pick up artist.

Trouble he was called, Trouble Kelp. 'I mean, who chooses a name like that voluntarily?!' That conceited elf was on the wrong track if he thought she'd fall for any blunt flirt attempts.

Although he _did_ look good with his reddish hair (like most elves) tied back in a tousled ponytail, very good indeed. A thin line of scar tissue ran from the side of his nose, across his cheek and disappeared behind the right of his pointy caramel colored ears. He looked badass!

'Catherine Donpino, get a grip, will you! Don't think that. That's bad, very bad Cate.' She scolded herself for thinking of the commander in such a way.

"... and like that, we should be able to retrieve..."

"Pffh..." A low snort from the very un-elfin-like pale young man, next to Captain Short, sidetracked Kelp.

"You got a problem with that, _Fowl?_" His voice everything but friendly. He practically spit last word as if it was an insult.

"If you ask me like that, Commander, I most certainly do." The man's smug tone provoking the already irritated Kelp.

Cate took a closer look. The fine tailored suit and deep blue tie underlined his sharp features and suggested an evenly sharp mind. If not sharper.

Although he had the same oddly mismatched eyes as Holly (he probably was that human/elf boyfriend she'd been taking about), Cate couldn't help it, but think she'd seen him before...

"This operation must be planned precisely. And your _plan_ rather lacks a few aspects one should take time to consider."

Then it struck her.

"I don't believe it", Cate burst out. The whole room was looking at her now. Maybe became she'd jumped to her feet, pointing her finger towards the also surprised young man.

"I knew I've seen that face before! It's been on your Interpol file!

You're Artemis Fowl, the Irish teenage criminal mastermind, who vanished a few years back as if swallowed by the earth."

Cate let out a half-heartedly laugh, "You actually were..."

"An Interpol file, I am flattered." Artemis looked as if he really was pleased with himself. Holly did not.

"Name one good reason why I shouldn't arrest you this second. You tried breaking into Fort Knox for goodness' sake!"

The man coughed "... and succeeded. For once, I am an elf, obviously. "

He handed Cate a small bit of paper. It was a business card to the name of Colonel Xavier Lee ...

"And secondary, I believe this name is familiar to you, is it?"

It was. That man had once saved her life in the Caucasian mountain range. How did Fowl know him?

Cate was still trying to decide if it was enough to trust the pale younger elf, when an incredibly shrill alarm filled the room, causing nearly everyone to clutch their hands over their ears.

Merely Foaly didn't lose any time as he hectically tapped his fingers on the table, tail flicking nervously.

"GUYS", he yelled over the alarm. "I THINK WE HAVE A PROBLEM! AND IT'S EVEN BIGGER THAN THIS ONE!"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter (6)

That moment the lights went out. Darkness surrounded them. Even the alarm fell silent.

A quick shuffling noise as the first chair was pushed back. It was followed by the clapping sound of hooves and a loud thud... "D'arvit!" Foaly had missed the door and banged his head against the wall.

"What're you waiting for? Someone to kick you outta your chairs? Cause I ain't got time right now!" Then he galloped down the emergency light lit hallways only to be followed by Artemis and Holly seconds later.

Arrived at the ops booth, Foaly and Artemis swung behind the control board and simultaneously started rebooting the complex systems to find the source of the alarm.

Since his move to Haven Artemis took up the position as a consultant to the LEP. That way they got to keep an eye on him and he could be exercise his mind and actually do something positive. "I'm their Sherlock Holmes", he once had told Holly quite proudly, though she didn't get the mud men reference.

Now Holly just stood and watched them. Her best friend and boyfriend, both completely shutting her out of their world of zeros and ones. She didn't like it.

Not caring what effects an interruption of the techies had to their situation, she grabbed the back of both the men's swivel chairs and turned them round to face her.

"One of you better explains what's happening ..." Her voice trailed off, letting the two geniuses thinking of possible consequences of refusal on their own.

Foaly weighted off who'd have to suffer the more severe aftermaths.

"Arty, you go on then." That said he turned back to his screens. Holly, after all, was the pale elf's girlfriend, not his.

Artemis made one feeble attempt to reason with his better half.

"Listen, Holly, as much as I'd like to explain to you, but as time is of essence-" He was cut off by one meter of redheaded determination.

"Now, _love._" The last word sounding alarmingly more like threat than pet name ...

"We've been hacked."

* * *

Back at the now dim lit conference room, the upper ranks of the LEP assembled what'd happened.

"This is _exactly_ what I was talking about, you can't even handle your own problems and expect me to draw Atlantis into your messes!"

Acorus was the first to speak after the centaur and the two elves had left so suddenly.

He waved at his accompanying officers. "We'll get back to Atlantis immediately, I don't dare to imagine what's happening there!" And they were out of the door before anyone could protest. Maybe everyone was just too pleased being relieved of the Commander's presence.

Trouble was about to march to the ops booth himself and demand an explanation, when Captain Short came back again, hair somewhat more ruffled than before she'd left.

\- Foaly had had to concentrate on his screens really hard to prevent a blush as the elves bid their temporary _goodbye_... -

"Ok, I've got bad news and some a bit less bad news," the officer declared. Trouble glared at her, "Just spit it out, Short!" He really was serious if he called her by last name.

"Well, the alarm was Foaly's backup system, it warns before shutting down, so it wasn't a terror alert, at least not yet. Something, more likely someone, managed to sneak through Foaly's security system and shut down the whole power grid in Haven." The Commander couldn't stop himself from asking.

"And, pray tell, which news is this one?" He kind of didn't want to hear his subordinate's answer.

"The better one, I'm afraid. The generators are powering up now every second. But control over the magma flares is lost and neither Foaly nor Artemis seems to be able to regain control again. They say it appears that the flares are remote controlled from the outside. Right now it's shut down and every flare is withheld.

In this case, the chutes block automatically until the next flare occurs naturally. Can't take chances it'd blow up if anyone went in, before a natural flare takes out the pressure."

Short paused as the other fairies realized what this meant.

Normally, it was merely a matter of hours till the next eruption of molten rock filled the chutes with such heat to maintain pleasant temperatures throughout the Lower Elements.

But now it was winter, at least the subterranean equivalent to winter. It was the time when the shift of the earth's axis caused a decrease to the frequency of these flares. Only a few per week were enough to maintain the power supply but surface transports had to be timed precisely.

"The next flare's due to occur in about three days and with the blocked chutes even a shuttle can't get through... So it looks like we're stuck at the moment. Not a chance to get up there."

Holly had finished and looked at the disbelieving faces.

Then the council members started to talk simultaneously about what had to be done, each certain about his suggestion being the right one.

Vinyáya rushed off, probably to section eight, muttering something under her breath that sounded like "Wouldn't bet on it..." and left behind only (the still mud-woman-obsessed) Commander Kelp, to take over.

Trouble had a hard time concentrating on what to do next as both Captains, Short and Donpino, watched him closely. Three days without being able to take actions on the operation. Three days forced rest. Three days which he could spend with the pretty surface captain...

"What about those convicts then", he finally managed to ask.

"Oh, I forgot, Foaly's nearly finished setting up the connection to the SFPD. I'm gonna go check on how far he got." And she was off again, leaving Cate in the sole presence of the male elf, who fought for sanity - if you didn't count the quarreling council fairies.


	7. Chapter 7

(7) Chapter

Corridor in front of the conference room

Trouble walked slowly towards the human, who now leaned against the doorpost.

"I don't think we've been introduced officially" The Commander put on his most charming smile as he reached out his hand to Cate.

The police women decided to give him a chance, maybe ad she'd just misinterpreted his previous behaviour. Cate accepted the offered hand and gave it a quick but firm shake.

"I'm Commander Kelp, but everyone's just calls me Trouble." Cate was quite sure they did not, they'd probably get demoted for this, but she didn't bother questioning him.

"Just wanted to tell you, Captain, how impressed I was, when I heard you arrested those goblins" A nice little complement should do the trick.

"Thanks Commander - Trouble." The now appeared grin on his face looked a bit sheepish. "But I'd probably just gotten lucky."

He had to keep up the conversation, maybe he could get her to tell what'd happened.

"Don't lessen it. So ... will you let me in on the secret of the great goblin defeater?" Cate's expression told him, he'd probably overdone it a bit.

She started anyhow.

"Well, yesterday evening I wa - "

And yet another interruption was bound to happen.

"Hey! Hey Trubs!"

'Good gods - No! Don't let that be true. Not _now_.' It was an all too familiar voice, sounding through the LEP corridors.

Just like back at the academy! Grub Kelp had a talent for picking the _most_ inconvenient moments to complain to his big brother. Now was such a moment.

"Oh, they _do_ call you 'Trouble' " Cate looked a mused, a smile playing around her lips. "I had my doubts, _Trubs_."

Though Commander Kelp found her smile heavenly, he wished himself far, _far_ away. Or optionally his kid brother...

"No," he groaned. "That's my broth-"

Grub had arrived - and went into shock. "H... hu... human!," he squeaked, complains about a crashed information unit that cost him roughly a week's overtime completely forgotten. At least Trouble was spared from that.

Cate was even more amused, when she realized the undeniable resemblance of the elves. Though the elf crouched behind the nearest desk, had a much ganglier, less muscular appearance, which exposed the owner as being more of a desk-person than field fairy. They had the same sharp cheekbones and also the hair had the same reddish touch, even if it was neatly cut in shape, not all long and ruffled as the Commander's.

At the sight of the human, Grub decided he wouldn't go down without a fight. From behind his improvised cover he yelled: "Hands in the air, mud person! I warn you, I'm armed!" He actually was, if you counted the stapler he had grabbed.

Trouble covered his face in his hands and sighted once more. Cate was barely withholding her laughter as she raised her arms with shaking shoulders.

"Gods, Grub. Get out of there, will you?" Unbelievable that elf was his brother...

"Not while she's still standing there!" came the reply from behind the decorative pot plant on the desk.

"Yes, you will, _Corporal_!" Trouble had enough. First Grub had crashed his conversation with Captain Donpino and now he was making a complete fool of himself and -worst of all- dragged Trouble down with him.

When Holly reappeared, she was surprised to find her superior, looking suddenly very annoyed, standing between his little brother (babbling agitated) and a Cate who wiped tears of laughter from her big green eyes.

"Aaalright, ... I seem to have missed something. Anyhow, Artemis and Foaly are still busy working on those blasted controls, so the connection won't stand for at least another half an hour."

The little elf turned towards Cate.

"I could use a bite, are you hungry too?" At a nod from the human she continued. "Then let's go, time you tried some fairy food."

She linked arms with the human and as they went out of the doors, they left behind two brothers. One of them taking turns at staring after his object of desire and sending angry glances down the other brother.

* * *

**I had especially fun writing Grub into this ;)**

**Please let me know what you are thinking of the story so far :)**


	8. Chapter 81

**Sorry for not updating so long. I know, I know, lousy excuse … but school started again (exams, exams, exams)... writing is fun but takes its time.**

**I know this is an _Artemis Fowl_ fanfic, but I couldn't resist writing more about Cate ... - Well, since you've read until here, I'll just assume you don't mind either ;)**

* * *

Chapter 8.1

High-street Haven,

Spud's Spud Emporium,

Table 5

It was only a short walk from Police Plaza to one of Haven's more popular fast food restaurants. Even this late in the evening, _Spud's Spud Emporium _was brimming with fairies, munching on slouchy fries and far from healthy looking veggie burgers.

Popular wasn't to be equalized with exquisite. But the proximity to the police HQs kept customer numbers up.

Holly and Cate had been able to catch one of the last free tables in a corner of the packed fast food eatery.

After she had glanced at the food trays of the surrounding fairies, Cate wasn't so sure anymore if she was hungry after all. Her fairy companion had to assure her twice she'd be fine by sticking to salads and shakes.

"Well, I'm intrigued, Holly. How does it come your boyfriend is Artemis Fowl, a criminal mastermind?" The police fairy hadn't struck Cate as one being desperate to break the rules ... more one to _stretch_ them a bit. "And what he has to do with the Colonel, I have no clue."

"To cut this short, the Colonel's actually called Butler and is Artemis's best friend slash bodyguard. I came to meet them when Arty kidnapped me 12 years ago."

Dead silence, only the dining fairies could be heard.

Then, as to be expected: "He what?!," Cate's expression as disbelieving as it could get. "You're together with the man who'd kidnapped you? Wait - He must have been just a teenager back then! Speaking of Stockholm syndrome, this really is messed up, you know."

"In retrospective, I can't exactly explain how it came to happen." Holly smiled guiltily. "Of course I was no dull damsel in distress who falls head over heels for her kidnapper. First I practically begged my previous commander to force Artemis returning the LEP's ransom fund he'd drained. But, rules are rules and I value my magic too much risking it knowingly, no matter how big my grudge against him was.

Over the years we seemed to attract one adventure after another, gods, we even went time travelling together." Captain Short's gaze ended a few inches in front of her face when she indulged in memories from long ago. Then the elf was back on (under) earth again. "I thought I could distract myself, but I realized I actually missed him, when we weren't together... one thing followed another - and here we are."

Despite Holly already considered the human as a friend, she was not going to get into detail about the various awkward situations she and the Irish genius had managed to entangle themselves, including a catastrophic first date and rather private insights when living together _(*cough*_ the sort of thing you really shouldn't discuss over dinner _*cough*) _amongst the fact that Artemis actually did wear a track suit if he thought he was home all alone ...

She decided to steer the conversation in another direction.

"So, enough of my love life, tell me! Trouble seems quite fond of you... " Holly propped her head onto folded fingertips and eyed Cate teasingly.

"Gosh, I'd hoped I was imagining that..." Then: "Is he really?," Cate asked before stopping herself.

"Of course! He couldn't keep his eyes off you, I haven't seen him acting like that for _years_ ! Not since we'd da-" The elf broke off. "Never mind. What have you been talking about?"

Cate briefly recalled their chat and found herself rather liking the elfin man. Kelp seemed to have what it took to be a good commander and she respected that. He knew how to handle problems as well as people. And that isn't easy. Cate could relate by being in the same position with roughly half a dozen people under her command.

Her last relationship hadn't survived the difficulties of a SFPD captain. It felt nice to be understood.

And, Cate couldn't deny, he _was_ attractive as hell.

'Though he's clearly a bit awkward regarding compliments,' she remembered. Cate hadn't heard any flirt attempts that blunt for a long time. Forget the chance she was going to give him.

'Cate Donpino does not simply fall for honeyed words! We're not even the same species, my goodness!'

The human agreed unknowingly with a certain dwarf on this topic...

After she'd convinced herself more or less about what to feel, she was ready to move on.

"I was about to tell the Commander about my first encounter with you fairy folk or aka 'how smelly, scaly little people tried to clear out our evidence storage before you shot me with your blasted sci-fi gun'." Cate smiled anyhow.

In retrospective it seemed even funny to the victim of Holly's famous targeting skills.

* * *

After the shot, Cate's memory of the incident had been blurred and only recently started to reappear within the last hours.

What had happened that evening, was the following:

The San Francisco Police's Major Crimes Unit successfully took out one of California's drug cartel leaders a few days ago. Obviously this meant _loads_ of paperwork after all the action was long over. Cate's colleagues had all performed at their best and were now probably at home, enjoying their evening.

And so it came to be that Captain Donpino was left all alone, besides night staff, signing hundreds (at least it seemed like hundreds) of reports and documents.

To be sure everything was legitimate, she went down to the evidence storage, checking a few numbers and quantities.

Charles 'Chubby' Hughes, a -big surprise- far from skinny, nearly bald and desperately retirement awaiting officer- snoozed softly in his cubicle at the front of the storage entrance.

"Hey!" She pounded her palms at the Plexiglas pane. If she had to work, so did Chubby.

"Chubby, wake up! Let me in, will you?" Hughes startled up, grunting once.

"Oh. Hi, Catie, didn't see you there…" he rubbed his eyes with a pink fist.

" 'Course you didn't, you were sleeping like a baby." "No I didn't", but it was no point in denying it.

"What are you doing here at this ungodly hour? Pretty captains need their sleep." Hughes had the rare privilege of speaking to Donpino in this way.

"Thanks, Charles. I just need to check some things for my reports. Would you mind writing me in for a while?"

"There you go, girl, just sign this." He pushed a clipboard through the small slit in the glass.

After signing, Cate spend the next quarter of an hour rummaging through the shelf units. She really needed to speak with Chubby about organizing things down here.

Then she heard a sound. Like scratching or perhaps ... digging.

But besides her and Hughes was no one on this floor...

At least until a few seconds ago.

Cate wasn't scared easily, but strange noises in a dimly lit room with cartons full of memorabilia of most gruesome crimes - it wasn't a pleasure either.

She peaked around a stack of boxes, there definitely was a movement within the shadows.

Wrong, movements, plural.

'What the hell is going on?!'

"Matt? Nick? Is that you?" On second thoughts, why should they. The detectives Carnelian and Frye always were her prime suspects regarding pranks, but they should be long at home till now. Hughes on the other hand seemed to be in deep slumber again.

She heard further shuffling, no answer, no familiar voice.

Cate cursed herself for leaving both flashlight and beloved _Walter p99_ in her office upstairs - well usually one wouldn't need either at the storage facility.

Feeling a bit silly, the officer grabbed a baseball bat (the department's team also kept their equipment here, so it was safe to touch) and bravely walked towards the strange sounds.

The closer she came, the clearer the outline of the intruders became.

"Police!" Cate yelled, as to be expected in a police department...

"Put your hands in the air, where I can see them!"

Sniggering ...

Then two pairs of hands appeared, roughly a meter above ground - a... and started to glow.

'Okay... WHAT the HECK is going on?!'

"Lay your weapon on the floor and step back! You'll get one warning for free: I'm armed!" Though she didn't mentioned with what...

Next second, she found herself ducking, because a _fire ball_ (?!) slammed into the carton stash behind her.

'That's it, who or what ever this is. '

Captain Donpino armed herself with the nearest extinguisher and tightened the grip around the PD's bat.

Ninja style she moved closer to get a better look and hopefully catch whoever dared breaking and entering the SFPD's evidence storage.

What Cate saw then was very, _very_ disturbing ... Three figures stood near a hole in the floor - and passed each other various packages of confiscated goods.

One of them, she'd actually seen a few days before, lurking around the department at dusk. It was a small, hairy and bearded man, and he smelled! The others were even more _strange_. They appeared scaly, nearly reptile like. Their palms still seemed to steam off heat …

Cate decided to forget about all these weird things for now and solely concentrate on her task: stopping them.

'If they're able to create fire, how about a nice little encounter with my fire extinguisher?,' the Captain thought with a devious grin.

The three figures apparently thought their previous attack had been enough to scare off their human witness and now were back at concentrating on relocating the goods. How unfortunate for them …

From behind a big carton box as a shield , Cate emptied the entire extinguisher at them. Even though their reptile faces were unaccustomed for Cate, she could still see the expression of surprise in their lid less eyes. She nearly chuckled. Nearly …

Then the bearded man seemed … to ... to _fart_? And catapulted himself away from Cate and her extinguisher. The others started to pull themselves free of the white substance suffocating their flames.

Blessed be Benny Fredrickson, the techie had, fortunately, persuaded the chief to install small emergency kits everywhere with all kinds of "useful little tech devices"... Amongst it a newly developed chemical, that caused everyone who inhaled it, to fall immediately into some kind of deep slumber. Fredrickson had nicknamed it 'coma gas'. Cate didn't like using it, but it was probably most effective. So she grabbed one of the small, egg shaped containers from the kit nearby and threw it around the corner, where it broke open midst the hardening foam with creepy little men.

The Captain pulled up her sleeve and tried to cover her face. She didn't want to end up lying next to them.

So there she stood, in between three unconscious fairies (which she didn't knew they were), holding an empty fire extinguisher and now trying not to completely freak out.

The last thing Catherine Donpino saw, was another miniature person appearing out of thin air - and pointing the barrel of a glowing, futuristic gun at her. A silent blast.

Then the lights went out.

* * *

"HEL - LO, Ladies!"

An unmistakable voice snapped Cate out of her thoughts. Next to the two officer's nearly emptied nettle shakes hovered a very familiar sprite.

It was the green and grinning stature of Chix Verbil.

"Mind if we accompany you a bit?"

Without waiting for permission he slid into the booth, next to Captain Short and opposite of Cate. A second man came into view behind Verbil who wasn't bothered by demonstrating good manners either.

With _we_ Verbil apparently meant him and Ash Vein, the retrieval-one captain who succeeded Trouble Kelp in his former position. But - also a fellow sprite, meaning he'd team up with Chix anytime. The pair of them was every gender equality officer's worst nightmare.

Vein dropped himself besides the other female captain, leaving both women stuck between them.

The darker green sprite (an equivalent of being tanned, due to Vein's various retrieval missions) moved too close to Cate for her comfort.

"Why are there two pretty captains sitting here all by themselves?," Ash asked, also grinning.

The sprites were obviously searching for an evening flirt, though their chances weren't looking good. But not guts, no glory…

Much to their surprise (including Cate's), Holly didn't kick them out of the booth immediately. She merely glanced at her phone, which had vibrated once and then said something else instead...

In the LEP rumors spread quite quickly, so the men had already heard about Fowl and Short's quarrel. Maybe the auburn captain was trying to get payback on her partner or she was just in a good mood. Either way - Chix and Ash didn't care.

What they did not know: The elf had a much more mischievous plan in mind.

Such pity the sprites had missed the sparkle in her blue eye (an expression worth Artemis's appreciation, making it seem even more mischievous), when she winked at her human friend in unspoken understanding.

Cate got it right away, that look said: 'Play along, I got a plan!'

...

* * *

**By the way, ... it's supposed to be chapter 8 _point_ 1, not 81 XD**

**I just can't seem to fix it :)**


	9. Chapter 82

**Hi, there :)**

**Next chapter as promised … enjoy :D**

* * *

Chapter 8.2

Haven,

Police Plaza,

Ops booth

Cate and Holly had returned to the fairy HQs in central Haven. The small room for operations control hosted already Foaly, Artemis and Wing Commander Vinyáya, who were gathered around the highlighted screens.

Only Trouble Kelp seemed to miss. He'd awaited them in front of the booth but suddenly was nowhere to be seen.

From inside the biggest of luminous screens, the shaded eyes of Matthew Carnelian and Nick Frye looked at them. The call had reached the detectives in the middle of the night by human standards. Both didn't seem too happy about having to cross town at one in the morning to participate in some mysterious video conference with their boss.

When everything got explained to the men, their first reaction was quite similar to Catherine Donpino's. An assumed joke, assumed mental illness of their superior, disbelief and finally acceptance (though _after_ they'd gone down to the holding cells and actually found insult sputtering goblins there ...).

"I'm stuck down here for the next few days," Cate sighted. "So if you'd please make sure no one sees them and they don't make a run for it."

The blond haired man in his mid-thirties grinned, punched his colleague on the shoulder and said: "Yes, boss! Just gonna call the fairy tale task force!"

"_Thank you, Detective Frye!_ Very helpful." Cate's answer was soaked with sarcasm. No time for foolish behavior.

Suddenly Artemis Fowl's cellphone rang annoyingly loud. He excused himself, stepped out on the corridor, flicked it open and answered.

"Yes?"

Only few people had this number and most of them were in the ops booth right now, speaking to Captain Donpino's colleagues.

But he'd forgotten something...

Holly still was angry at him for last mornings throw-out before she'd gone to the surface.

He was sorry, but he'd really liked his former curtains. Those new ones were just ... too bright and fluffy.

Holly wasn't _reeealy_ furious, but annoyed enough for some kind of payback. The text Artemis had sent thirty minutes before, informing her and Captain Donpino about the accomplished connection, had given his girlfriend an idea ... on how to kill two birds with one stone.

* * *

High street Haven,

Just outside Spud's Spud Emporium

"You think they were serious?" Vein asked Chix suspiciously. This had been way too easy.

"Hey, what do I know? Why not try then? We'll know in a sec." That said, Chix pulled a small fairy phone from his pocket and dialed a number, scribbled onto a crumbled napkin. "We just have to say what they told us and they'll go out with us."

* * *

Police Plaza,

Floor in front of the ops booth,

Thirty seconds later...

'I don't believe it.' His mind refusing to process the information.

"What. Did. You. Just. Say?!" Artemis found it very hard not to yell. Instead, he settled with a low but nevertheless fearsome growl. "Who is thi- Never mind, I'll have your phone traced!"

Then he slammed the end button.

* * *

On the other end of the line two shaking sprites decided not to come anywhere near Fowl for say ... the next one and a half centuries.

* * *

When Artemis returned, his face showed only one expression.

Epic annoyance.

No one (except his girlfriend) dared to ask what happened.

_Now_ Holly was satisfied.

She'd managed to piss off Artemis and teach Chix and Vein a lesson at the same time.

What had been said, shall never be revealed and therefore is up to your imagination, but let's just say this:

Holly and Cate had made sure, neither of the sprites would ever reconsider hitting on them...

* * *

Police Plaza,

Office of Cmdr. T. Kelp

Trouble felt it getting worse... The elf leaned against the wall of his office and rubbed his temples.

He couldn't concentrate anymore. All his mind could think about was Cate Donpino. He liked her -_a lot_\- although they'd just met. She seemed ... right. It couldn't be explained.

But what scared Trouble most, was how _he_ behaved. He couldn't bring himself to go in the crammed room, unable to trust his own actions. It felt as if it wasn't him but someone else controlling his body.

Like at the moment for example...

Kelp had wanted to get himself a strong coffee from the corner shop next to police plaza. Maybe this could help clear his mind.

So now he walked immersed in his thoughts and only looked up when a cheery voice greeted him.

"Hello Commander, don't see you here often." The cheery voice belonged to small and smiling pixie. She busied herself with binding a huge flower bouquet in various red and yellow tones.

He had unnoticed, instead of the coffee shop, entered _Haven's Finest - Flowers &amp; Decorations_.

None of the plants were real of course, but the replicas were made so nature like, they'd even wither after a few days.

Normally the only time Trouble ever could be seen in here, was if he'd forgotten is mother's birthday once again.

He realized, he stood in front the counter with a single flower in his hands. It was a lily. What made it unique, were its soft, matt black petals, only framed by thin greenish lines following the shape of the delicate blossom. It had reminded him of her...

"Are you just going to stand there, or will you actually buy it before it'll wilt?" The pixie eyed him curiously. "Commander?"

'Ah, hell! Sod it.' He was already here, why not buy it? Maybe she'd like it.

"Yes, sorry. Just this, please." After Kelp had paid and was about to go, the pixie smiled once more and winked at him.

"She sure is one lucky lady."

* * *

In the ops booth Foaly ended the vid-call to the human police officers. After half an hour everything was said. They probably were already on their way to move the delinquent fairies to a more secretive environment.

So Cate stepped out on the floor, somehow relieved at least this problem was taken care of - and slammed right into Commander Kelp, who'd been about to enter.

Murmuring a sorry for nearly breaking his nose with the door, Cate looked up and everything in front her eyes went black...

Black with fine green lines to be specific.

"I-I thought ... you'd ... you'd like t-this..." Kelp couldn't believe he actually stammered. Mentally slapping himself, Trouble held the lily further into Captain Donpino's astonished face, his pointy ears crimson colored.

Okay, this topped everything. 'Has he completely lost it?', Cate wondered, though she couldn't otherwise but smile a bit. After all, every woman loved getting flowers, whatever causes there might be.

"T-thanks, I guess."

Behind the both of them, the others peaked out of the door. Holly had a really hard time withholding her laughter. They just looked so ... _cute _together - not to mention absolutely ridiculous.

And Foaly was happy for he'd just received the perfect blackmailing material... Kelp would have to listen to this _forever_ (quite literally by fairy standards).

Even Artemis was slightly amused, but Wing Commander Vinyáya merely shrugged her head in utter disbelief and vanished silently.

Chix was also back at the plaza, gods know why. He just was.

"Oi, Trouble! 'd someone die or what're you doing with those dull greens?," he called out ... probably, he hadn't seen Captain Short yet.

The sprite approached Commander Kelp from behind, reached over his shoulder and snatched the black flower from his buddy's hands.

Then he paused. And looked. First at Kelp, then Donpino. Mouth wide open.

"Don't tell me you're- You _are_!

He was shaken with waves of laughter, wings fluttering.

"Can't believe you actually fell for that witch!" 'Maybe' he'd confused the letters 'W' and 'B' for he was still annoyed by the women's phone prank, but: this is still rated T, so let's settle with 'W'...

The rest of the video conference attendees now got to enjoy a rare sight...

Chix didn't even have enough time to rationally understand, what was about to happen. To happen to his face precisely.

* * *

"Well, who said there aren't any gentlemen left?" Holly managed to say, now openly laughing and not showing any kind of sympathy for Verbil. The shocked sprite sat on the floor, clasping his punched, green nose. A furious Kelp towering over him and lecturing (meaning yelling) about how to treat fellow workers ..._ (sense the irony here?)_

Meanwhile, Cate was quite sure, any second now, she'd _definitely_ die from embarrassment.

"Ahem ..." Artemis cleared his throat to get attention. "As much as it is fun to watch Kelp making a fool of himself, something is seriously wrong with our dear Commander. Despite his _usual_ unreasonable behavior, this is out of the ordinary. I'd advice to seek council from N°1." That said, he gallantly retreated to the ops booth and left the chaotic situation for the others to untangle. How nice...

* * *

**Chapter 9 ...**

**... what is so obvious to the little warlock right from the start?**

**... and how will Cate react to this revelation?**


	10. Chapter 9

**Wehee, finally finished another chapter!**

**So sorry for the late update, I'm a terribly slow writer...**

**Also tests and exams kept me _very_ busy... Now they're over, yay!**

**BUT I PROMISE! I will finish this fic! Whatever it takes XD**

**Though updates might be a bit slow...**

**To make up for the late one this time, I tried to make it twice as long ;)**

**By the way ... I wouldn't exactly _mind_ another review or two ;)**

* * *

Chapter 9)

Haven Central Hospital,

Magical illnesses and diseases section,

Examinationroom 14

Trouble Kelp glared at the little demon. How dared he. How dared the little warlock laugh at him? He was still a first class LEP commander for goodness' sake.

At first N°1 had been shocked when he heard about the Commander's little outburst but then, after taking an examining look at the oddly behaving elf, he started laughing. To be honest, a laughing warlock-in-training is a curious sight. The tiny tail wiggling along his shaking body only underlined the strange sounds rippling from his throat. He didn't seem to mind the intimidating glare of Commander Kelp, after all Captain Holly Short and the genius Artemis Fowl were with him. The saviors of the eight family wouldn't let anything bad happen to the young demon, would they?

"It's obvious, isn't it?" the little warlock sniggered. Kelp didn't react but to sport an even more pissed expression -if this was even possible- and Holly looked at him impatiently, clearly demanded an explanation. Though Artemis' eyes showed a familiar glint like when one of his theories was about to be proven...

"Qwan told me this only recently, although I didn't think it would still occur these times. The Commander is rather lucky in a matter of ways." Another fit of laughter interrupted N°1. It took a few seconds until he recollected himself.

"So, just to be sure, when again did you start noticing his odd behavior?" The warlock addressed Captain Short and the (now) elfin genius because Kelp persistently claimed that there was nothing wrong with him. Yeah, absolutely nothing. Not that within the last hours he'd done the most embarrassing things to impress the pretty human police captain (going from awkward compliments straight to giving flowers), he'd also punched his (infinitely annoying) green friend in front of witnesses and yet: _nothing_ was unusual?!

Holly was the first to answer.

"Well, I guess it was around the time I returned with Captain Donpino from the surface." She turned around. Until this moment, the black haired officer had stayed in the background of the examination room, not attracting any attention.

With a curious expression N°1 waddled over to her on his short feet and closely looked up at the policewoman.

"Ah... I see, I see," he mumbled. Then he spoke up again.

"Commander, I believe what caused your behavior is indeed not your usual acting. Though it isn't exactly an illness, more an ancient evolutionary characteristic. Until now it was thought to be extinct as there weren't any occurrences within the last centuries.

Its name was aeternum-syndrome, the common one though-" **(AN/ aeternum means "forever" in Latin)**

"I don't care what it's called, just tell us what is wrong with Commander Kelp!"

Artemis sent a swift but annoyed glance at his girlfriend. That woman just didn't have any patience. He couldn't stop himself from letting out a small huff of disapproval.

Unfortunately Holly didn't miss neither his look nor sigh and jabbed her elbow in his ribs.

"Shut up! I know how much you love "detour-explanations", but I want to know what's going on _right now_." Yes, definitely no patience. Another jab.

The warlock apprentice took a deep breath and started to explain the whole 'brain-backdoor-goes-main-entrance-thing' to a nodding Artemis, wide-eyed Holly and a somewhat reassured Trouble concerning the fact that at least he wasn't going insane ... completely.

"... and apparently Commander Kelp subconsciously focused on Captain Donpino." N°1 finished his explanation.

"Oh, I forgot! Aeternum-syndrome doesn't _create_ feelings, it only intensifies what already exists."

"HA! I knew it! There was something going on between you." Holly said before thinking. The elf quickly shut up as both, Cate and Trouble, glared daggers at her.

"But why me, we're not even the same species! I'm human, for heaven's sake!" As in despair the female captain buried her head in her hands. The gesture caused a somehow disappointed look on Trouble's face.

"Well, not exactly, you're in fact-" N°1 started explaining but was interrupted by Captain Donpino.

"See, that's my point! - Wait! What?!" Cate's head shot up. What had the little creature been about to say?

"You're not fully human."

"Come again?!"

"You're not fully human," repeated the little warlock dutifully. Had he spoken to low or even inarticulate?

"Yes, I've _heard_ that!"

"But why did you- ooh that was a colloquialism! Very nice word -col~lo~qui~al~ism~." He rolled the syllables in his mouth.

In the meantime three pairs of eyes stared at him. He stopped his little hobby.

"Sorry. Captain, you've got a bit of fairy DNA mixed with your human genes. Maybe you know anything odd concerning your grandparents? - Oh, you didn't know?" The demons had a surprised look on his face when he watched also Holly's and Artemis' pupils dilate. Cate's facial expression had already become indescribable...

"Your fairy senses should've told you... did you really not notice?" Both shook their heads.

"Though ... if I think of it..." Holly started putting together the information bits and pieces she knew about Catherine Donpino.

A few things actually'd make sense if the women had fairy ancestry. She eyed her friend closely.

"Obviously you're quite small, even if not fairy standard and-" she inched a bit closer and looked up "- your ears also look rather pointy..."

"That's your reason? Really?!" Cate seemed far from happy the way things developed.

"I'm not finished yet! You managed to fight my Mesmer, remember? Never seen a human do that!" Behind her, Artemis casually cleared his throat. Holly glared at him.

"You've used tricks!" Then his girlfriend continued.

"Anyways, there's more. When I shot you with my Neutrino -I said I'm sorry!- you fell and scratched your cheek. But after you work up in the shuttle, the scratch was gone..."

"So what? I heal quickly, it's always been that way."

"See?! That's not normal! It'd make sense if you have a few traces of magic left. That'd also explain this...," the elf gestured with her hands in the air, "... this natural authority thing. Even if you don't know it, you're able to layer your voice with a bit of Mesmer!"

Cate sighed. Even though she tried to deny everything Holly said, her arguments were just too convincing. So now she was partially a fairy! Was there any possibility for things to become even stranger?! Hopefully not, she thought. But the main problem wasn't her ... it was the Commander and perhaps the criminal organization they couldn't anything about in their current situation!

"Alright, let's forget my sorry ass for a second. We still have a crisis at our hands and we can't do anything with the Commander-" she coughed, as to divert attention away from her words "-fancying me." Cate's cheeks filled with a nice tinge of pink...

"Is there anything to... to stop _this_ and get him back to normal?"

"Actually, there is something." N°1 just remembered. "It a kind of elixir though it only eases the symptoms and doesn't completely eradicate them. I think I could manage to synthesize some of it..."

"Please do so!" Four voices pleaded simultaneously.

"Alright, just give me a bit of time."

Cate removed herself from the wall she'd leaned against and moved towards the exit.

"I think I'll also need a bit of time myself. I'm gonna head out to get some fresh air." Before anyone could react, she'd already left.

* * *

'If this is some kind of dream, please God, I'd like to wake up! Now!'

The confused woman walked through the streets of Haven City. Not knowing where to head to, she wandered in directing of the Plaza, for it being one if the only places she knew.

Sure the Commander did have his perks... but ... well, no 'but'. She couldn't make herself think anymore that not being the same spices'd be an obstacle too big. They weren't.

'Right, that's the other crazy thing. I'm supposed to be partially fairy?! Granted, I've never met my grandparents from my mother's side.'

She'd just always thought they'd died sometime before her birth. Now they were fairies - or at least one of them. Great.

The bypassing elves, sprites and one or two goblins curiously glanced at the black haired woman. No matter how small she was, with merely a meter fifty a human in a world of fairies kind of tends to stick out...

Despite the gloomy aura surrounding Cate, one quite brave male sprite clad in a delivery service's uniform actually dared to wolf whistle after her. An especially poison filled glare in his direction shut him up as the captain was about to enter Police Plaza.

But something stopped her.

No. Someone stopped her. She hadn't expected to see this person here and now. Why was he still here?

Curiously Cate watched the figure on the other side of the street slip into a nearby backstreet. The behavior seeming a bit suspicious because he kept glancing over his shoulder as if worried someone might decide to follow.

Actually someone did.

Having an odd feeling in her stomach, Cate again stepped down the stairs leading to the LEP's HQs. If she'd learned one thing whilst being a SFPD cop for nearly fifteen years now, it was to trust her guts.

And something about this didn't feel right. Not right at all.

Trying not to attract too much attention, she also crossed the street and entered the alley, always careful to avoid being spotted.

* * *

'What _the heck_ have I done?'

After about half an hour N°1's special little cocktail started to kick in. In Trouble's opinion the feeling could be best compared to when starting to remember what had happened after a college binge night. He now was able to look at his behavior from a shockingly rational point of view.

"I've got to apologize to Cate. I got to explain..." Trouble didn't realize he'd spoken those last words aloud and now had the relieved looks of Holly and Artemis drawn to him, who had stayed behind to keep an eye on the previously confused Commander.

"Captain Short?"

"Yes, glad you're back to normal Trouble."

"Where can I find Captain Donpino? I've got to speak to her right now and clear up this mess!"

She's also probably quite confused right now. Hope she doesn't do anything stupid...

"I guess she could've went back to the Plaza but-"

"Thanks!" Before the elf could finish her sentence, Kelp had jumped from the medical bed he still had sat on and exited through the same door Cate had left just earlier.

"Oi, Walt!"

The sturdy gnome security guard gave a grunting sound as to show he heard the man calling his name. Taking two steps at a time Trouble sprinted up the stairs to the Plaza whilst yelling up to the guard.

"Have you seen Captain Donpino?"

"Seen who, Commander?"

"Captain Donp- Female human, about this tall," Trouble gestured a bit above his head, "black hair, green eyes - quite pretty!"

"A human?" Walt seemed startled.

"Ah, yeah. Think I've seen one 'bout twenty minutes ago. Kinda surprised me. Why're ya looking for her Commander? 'S she dangerous or somethin'?"

"Dangerous- What? No! I just need to speak to her really urgently! Where did she go? -Come on Walt, tell me!" The longer the stocky gnome took for his answer, the more impatient Trouble became.

"She's been 'bout to enter the Plaza but turned on 'er heels before she was up the stairs. Guess she'd seen someone 'cause she crossed the street and went into that alley. I wonder who though, the alley leads directly to the Southside."

* * *

Southside Haven,

Industrial area,

Deserted warehouse of formerly KoboiLabs

Haven's Southside: after the B'wa Kell Rebellion this part of the city was mostly deserted. Only few warehouses still had any goods in them, most were just left alone to fall apart. It was a thorn in the council's side since quite some years now, but still no majority had been achieved to clean out the number one location for Haven's underworld. Whoever had business to attend in this district surely was no friend of the law.

Of course Catherine Donpino knew nothing about this. She could have told you everything about San Francisco's mobsters, smugglers and low-key gangsters - but the People's criminal meeting spots were not included in that knowledge.

After a good ten minutes of sneaking after the person a few meters in front, to keep from being spotted, their surroundings became more and more suspicious to Cate. The few windows that weren't already shattered had wooden bars across and not a soul was to be seen on the street. This gave the woman a pretty accurate clue in what kind of neighborhood she'd landed.

'What the hell is he doing here,' the captain wondered as she saw him opening a rather battered door and entering one of the desolated buildings.

'I better keep an eye on him...'

That decided, Cate waited two or three minutes and after no one exited again, she carefully peaked into the gap where the door hadn't closed completely again. When she couldn't see anyone, she also slipped inside.

Little did Cate know she was being followed as well.

* * *

Catching for breath Trouble stopped near the old KoboiLabs facility. He'd run the whole way to make up for the woman's headstart.

Some unpleasant memories from several years ago flashed back, but he pushed them aside as he saw the ends of glossy black hair sway through a door on the side of the building and vanish inside.

He briefly considered calling out for Cate but she'd clearly followed someone and Trouble wasn't that stupid to incautiously blow her cover. If whoever she was after was dangerous... he didn't dare to finish this train of thoughts.

Checking for his Neutrino (which usually hung at his belt, ready to use) he cursed.

Holly had seized the handy weapon (he'd _never_ admit this to Foaly though, the centaur's ego was big enough already) after his "little outburst" at the Plaza, with the justification that in his current condition she couldn't have him running around armed and behaving like a "mudman gone crazy".

"Guess I've got to rely on my own skills, don't have much other choice."

So Commander Kelp was the third person to enter the rundown Southside building that day.

* * *

'Shit. Shit, shit, SHIT!' Cate gritted her teeth. How stupid could one be?! It was straightaway embarrassing when considering she was a task force _captain_, not some traffic newbie!

She hadn't told anyone where she was going. Even if someone'd look for her, why would they do so in an industrial park?!

She wasn't armed. Her beloved Walter rested safely stored away in a LEP locker -they trusted her but protocol forbid all humans to carry weapons.

And worst of all: she'd underestimated the other side. Never, never _ever_ do that.

For this mistake she'd have to pay now.

In form of a cool plastic-metal compound pressed against her back.

"You really thought I wouldn't notice being followed, did you?"

* * *

Trouble froze.

His eyes immediately fixated on the two people in the storage hall, standing close to each other, next to a tall stack of pallets.

Kelp hadn't _barged_ in, more trying to keep a low profile and assess the situation first,... but life doesn't always go according to plan. Two pairs of eyes met his. The green pair belonging to Cate Donpino who seemed equally angry at the person besides her as well as herself. Although her expression now changed from anger to surprise, she wasn't able to keep a tinge of fear out of her look.

The other one belonged to-

"My, my, who do we have here? A knight in shining armor?" The familiar figure sniggered tauntingly. "If it isn't the Commander.

Now be a good boy and show me your empty hands. Otherwise..."

He didn't even both to finish his sentence. The Neutrino simply shifted from Cate's back to her temple.

Trouble's mind raced. So did Cate's.

Damn. What were they going to do?

* * *

**I kinda made a little change of plans, what do you think?**

**The summary said _adventurous_ and _dangerous_, so why not add a bit of action for the lovey-dovey couple... ;D**

**But don't worry, it's soon gonna be _all_ romance again ... ;)**

**Sorry for the cliffhanger (I couldn't resist), it'll be all revealed in the next chapter, but feel free to guess :)**

**See ya next time,**

**Writin'Redhead**


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